Anthracyclinone antibiotics have provoked considerable interest in recent years because of their impact on cancer chemotherapy. In particular, daunorubicin has been described by Z. Vanek, et al.: "Anthracyclines" in Folia Microbiol., Vol. 22, pages 139 to 159 (1977). Adriamycin has been described by T. Oki: "New Anthracycline Antibiotics" in Jap. J. Antibiotics, Vol. 30 (Suppl.), pages 570 to 584 (1977); and carminomycin has been described by D. G. Strauss: "Anthracyclines-Modern Tumor-Inhibiting Agents" in Folia Microbiol., Vol. 23, pages 152 to 161 (1978). Most of the biologically active anthracyclines are glycosides with one or more sugar residues attached to the aglycone part. It has been shown by various workers that the whole molecule is necessary for biological activity. No biological activity has been reported for any anthracyline aglycone. F. Arcamone has stated in his recent book: " . . . . In the anthracycline antibiotics, the presence of the amino sugar residue is an important structural requirement for bioactivity, as a biological action due to the isolated aglycone moiety has never been recorded . . . ".